With today’s reintroduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act by Senator Mike Enzi and Congressman Steve Womack, ACU Chairman Al Cardenas praised the lawmakers for seeking a solution to the federally-created unlevel playing field between online and brick-and-mortar retailers. At issue is the federal government exempting some Internet retailers from collecting existing state sales taxes while allowing mandatory sales tax collection for identical sales made at brick and mortar locations.

“A robust free-market system requires a level playing field, where the government doesn’t get to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Senator Enzi and Congressman Womack deserve praise for their efforts to empower states to make their own revenue policy choices and create a fair system of tax collection. The number one threat to the future of American competitiveness isn’t other countries-- it’s our tax law. When it comes to state sales taxes, it is time to address the area where federally mandated prejudice is most egregious — the policy towards Internet sales, the decades-old inequity between online sales and in-person sales as outdated and unfair.

Conservatives do not want the federal government playing favorites in the marketplace or blocking the states’ right to make their own fiscal policy choices. Therefore, the American Conservative Union applauds Senator Mike Enzi and Congressman Steve Womack for their sponsorship of the Marketplace Fairness Act as a good-faith effort to solve this problem.”